Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-10-06
COUNTERFEIT SPICES.
Result OF Chemlsi's Resea7c !;
GrouOd SHELLS, Brick iiusl Sed
Other Agreeable Things
Freely Mixed with Condiments - I'll
Pure ArtLcle Almost Unknown IL
the Retail Trade.

CCllly Pre- paEet Anu lSSueu Dy 1TOlSSSOT
Clifford Richardson, the assistant chemist
Of tue Department Of Agriculture, re-
specting the aduIteration CO spices ard
condiments, which report forms part q s
ssries OF examinations into food and
food adulterants now beiHS pursued
under the direction Of the Commissioner Ct
Agriculture, il is clear tins. beth feJera
AID state legi-lation become inpeTGtiv civ
necessary in order to protect consumers
from deception In The purchase Of these
articles as we'll IS TO conserve the public
health, now largely jeopsrdized by the
use OF adultertnts Of poisonous or dele
terious nature. While several STATES nave
enacted lSWs to govern SUCH Instte-s, they
are practically dead letters, mainly be-
cause the proper police regulations to
eDtoTe them have not been made, Lor has
.he money been appropriated therefor.
Professor Richardson significantly re-
marks tAet if only G. portion of the IN
fortunate dislike for OleOmargaripe were
directed toward the spices, the result
would be that much wasted energy would
DC turned into profitable chsnnel, and
therefore the necessity for some means
whereby TO suppress the present univer-
sal sOphisticstion Of epiCe5 and cODGi-
ments. Although the amount OF GGuitsTG-
ton Which has been detected IS extremely
large, ii is OF nature which arOuses bur
little prejudice on the part of The con-
sumner, simply because, unlike oieomGr@G-
rine, it is apparently free fIom Ss5CciG
tons Of uncle6niiness. Aud yet the
spices, such % peppers 81 various kinds,
mustard, cloves, cinnamon, cassie, all
spice Or pimento, nutmeg, mace and gin
ger, occupy an lmpoTtsnt position IN the
diet Of the human race, aud, while not in
themselves foods, nevertheless serve to
render food more palAtable and stimulate
digestion.
These spices ere often and seriously
adul!erated, because it is readily accom-
plshGd through placing them on the mar
Eet III a ground or pulverized condition,
which prevents the recognition of quality
from mere appearance and because many
cheap substitutes or diIuents are readily
found which resemble the real article.
Professor Richardson directs attention to
the fact that smother impetus TO this
edulteretiOn is given because OF the de-
mand OF the poorer classes for the cheap-
est possible supply, and the competition
aroused by this demand in the trade,
owing to the high prices attached to most
Of the spices Of good quality, has fOs!ered
| and extended the practice. Those who
desire pure ground spices can almost
always obtain them by paying their value
but, so long as people do not cODpre-
bend that it IS their interest to buy the
! best rather than cheap Grticle at low
price, they must suffer or be protected by
severe legal eraCtmenta enforcing rigid
penalties.
| The common aGulterants found Ia pep
pers were fours or starches OF cereals and
potatoes, ssgo, mustard husk, linseed and
c&psiCUm, pepper husks, saWdust, G7p-
sum, yellow corn, cracker dust, charcoal,
cCcoanut SHELLS. olive stones and like 1iSp
mineral matter Of vsrt0us kinds. 4
specimen ob;ained by Professor Richard
son from 8 spicemiu in Baltimore SIC Tad,
upon analysis, that j: contained but little
! pepper, and WGs made up Of pepper dust
yellow corn, cracker dust, cayenne, Chsr-
c02l and other foreign matter. a white
! pepper from the same source Wa9 OF ike
origin, leaving o.t the blsck elements.
The pepper dusts aEe designated in
chemistry as "P ID. ;" III. ?. d." and
''W. P. D" The first consists Of linseed
cake, The second OF mustard husks chieAy,
and the third Ct ground rice.
Samples OF ground mustaEd we're prr-
cha cd, analyZed, and found TO consist OF
between 10 and so per cent. OF flour and
made from mustard cake, the oil having
been removed. The color was restored
oy tumeric, and on sieving it the sample
left large smoun1 Of husky, dbrOus
matter contaminated with WHEAT -four
and tumeric. These husks were not
those IF original mustard anG hence were
not Identified. but they seemed 10 resemble
coats OF ginger. Other samples sdver'
tised IS quite pure were found TO con
Gsin sf.pd aud four, and were made from
seeG-Cake. One sample contained salt;
another 9 large amount Of gypsum, with
SOM starch, cClored ~ tupi5fic, Gnd az
ether yellow cOrn-meaI.
The valuable properties OF cloves Gr5
due 10 the volatile Oil they Contain; 5u'
tee removal OF this oil, says Professor
Richardson, is go easy Cis the commones
method c! deception to do 80 before
grinding TIE spice, and theu dispose o
, i IS pure. the addition Of Glove stems
IS slS9 praCtiCed, and pimentO is some
times substituted in part CT entire. TIt
sddition CT c0sTser authorizations, sue:
ss mineral matter, CCcGGpat shells, -four
peas 2nu the IKE, IL sometimes O95tlYco
aad no doubt frequently occurs. In re
spect 20 cinnamon the samples examine
showed that not 8 particle !aoeled q
ground cinnamon YVES any thiGg nptcassia
c Cinnamon is by far more VaiuahIe thai
> cassie, containing greater proportion
. OF volatile oil, ana possessing more deli
\ cate aroma. Peas, starch, ground shell
Y and crackers have been found in powde
= labeled both ca5sis snd cinnamon,
Il The nutmeg and mace spices are differ
! ent portions OF the fruit CT the rutme
q tree, the nutmeg being the inner hcrns
; and the mace one CT the outer coats
They should always De purchased N tnei
whole, and never il ground conditions
for, when ground, are frequently nike
q with 0ilutents OF various descriptions
! principally ceresls md their refuse, Thic
are EASILY detected. Ginger is the roo
. or technically, rhiZome OF q plant some
O what similar to the American iris or ha
root. 1t is grown in various parts Of th
d word, and prepared both carefully an
e carelessly, being at times scraped an
: bleached and at others simply dried
q any condition, The adulterants {
t. ground ginger, although easily detected
are wheat -four or starch, tumeIic, mus
tard bulls sid cayenne.
), Cayenne or red pepper, says Professc